By Jim Lundy
One of our predictions for 2016 stated that the mobile market would begin to mature. We have already begun to see this play out, as evidenced by Axway’s acquisition of mobile app development provider Appcelerator for an undisclosed amount.
This blog discusses some of the aspects of this acquisition and future consolidation in the mobile market.
Appcelerator was a popular mobile app development platform (MADP), while Axway is known for its API management aervices. Together, the combined company is well-positioned for what we are calling mobile app development suites.
In 2014, Axway had revenues of € $261 million. One of the things interesting to note about Axway was that most of the case studies on their website were for large file transfer projects (such as BMW).
One of the reasons for this consolidation stems from the realization that to be fully digital, it requires multiple products. API management has quickly become an important category, especially when combined with MADP and mobile backend as a service (MBaaS). Large tech titans such as IBM already boast of all of these capabilities, and we expect others, such as Salesforce and Adobe, to make moves in the next year.
Enterprises need to look at their overall approach to mobile, particularly when it comes to building mobile-first applications that will require use of backend services. The demand for mobile-first apps will continue to grow and as it does, enterprises will require mobile app platforms to help them build strategic apps.